December is set up for Dak Prescott to win his first NFL MVP award
The Dallas Cowboys (9-3) are in a great spot to not only take control of the NFC East with a win over the Philadelphia Eagles (10-2) in Week 14, but they will also throw their hat in the ring for the NFC's No. 1 seed. And, Dak Prescott's chances at winning his first NFL MVP award […]
The Dallas Cowboys (9-3) are in a great spot to not only take control of the NFC East with a win over the Philadelphia Eagles (10-2) in Week 14, but they will also throw their hat in the ring for the NFC's No. 1 seed.
And, Dak Prescott's chances at winning his first NFL MVP award will only increase and push him higher on the mountain. Right now, Prescott is the favorite to win the award at +225, with San Francisco 49ers QB Brock Purdy in second at +300.
Prescott's journey won't stop there, however. In fact, it'll be far from over. As good as he's been in 2023, many are still waiting for him to win big games on a consistent basis. That's been the biggest indictment against Prescott since he came into the NFL and it's a perception only can change by doing one thing: winning.
Fortunately, he has that exact situation coming up over the month of December. Not only do the Cowboys play the Eagles in Week 14, but check out the next three games in the final month of the year:
- Week 15: at Buffalo Bills (6-6)
- Week 16: at Miami Dolphins (9-3)
- Week 17: vs. Detroit Lions (9-3)
Sure, the Bills don't have a great record, but many still consider them to be a good team in terms of roster construction and winning in Buffalo during December is a huge challenge in its own right. And while traveling to Miami is a much nicer road trip, it's the second of back-to-back road trips and it's against the team that is currently holding the AFC's No. 1 seed at the time of publication.
Wrap all of that up with a tough Lions in primetime on Saturday night and the road to Prescott's MVP couldn't be more clear. Two of these four games will be played during a primetime slot and the other two are both scheduled during the NFL's late slate of 4:25pm E.T. So, plenty of eyes will be on all of these games.
…While popular perception had pegged Prescott as something closer to a game manager than a superstar before the 2023 season, it isn't as if the starting quarterback for the Cowboys is going to fly underneath the radar. He just won back-to-back prime-time games with big performances, and they have prime-time games against the Eagles and Lions in the weeks to come to go along with likely shootouts against the Bills and Dolphins on the road. If Prescott wins those games and continues to produce gaudy numbers, he's going to be the favorite, let alone a candidate. – Bill Barnwell, ESPN
If Prescott goes 4-0, the award is all his. The 49ers don't have as near as tough a schedule and while Purdy does hold a head-to-head win over Prescott that also happened to be the latter's worst game of the year, A 13-3 Cowboys squad with a red-hot Prescott will be too much for Purdy to overcome.
